Roadways Sector - Striding towards new heights

Well developed roadways is one of the key parameter for any country’s economic growth. With the government giving massive push to infrastructure growth and development, the transportation landscape, especially in the road sector, has undergone rapid transformation. The road sector is one of the highest economic and employment multipliers in the country.

India boasts of having one of the largest road networks in the world, comprising national highways, expressways, state highways, major district roads, other district roads and village roads. The development of roads has become a vital tool in bridging the logistic gap as cities are now connected to small towns and villages, thus leading to economic progress.

In order to strengthen road connectivity in the country, various road projects and schemes were announced by the newly formed NDA government in the FY14.

As per the data compiled by Projects Today, the new government launched 11,747 road projects worth over Rs 10.63 lakh crore between FY15-FY18. Out of this, a total of 11,383 road projects are under various stages of execution as of March 2018. These projects entail a total investment of over Rs 10.29 lakh crore. These include upgradation of road, construction of new roads, subways, bypass, expressways, flyovers, foot-over-bridges, ring road projects, underpasses, among others. Of the total projects announced during the period, 341 projects worth Rs 14,738 crore were completed.

Overall, a positive trend has been witnessed in the Roadways sector over the past four financial years. Within a year of the formation of the new government, the investment in this sector was registered at Rs 1,85,900 crore in FY15. In the next financial year, the sector posted a jump of 24 percent Y-o-Y with an investment of Rs 2,31,260 crore in FY16. The positive trend continued in FY17 with a jump of 31 percent Y-o-Y with fresh projex worth Rs 3,02,262 crore. After three years of high growth, in FY18, fresh projex in Roadways were recorded at Rs 3,44,211 crore, at growth of 15 percent Y-o-Y.

In short, in the last four years, the projex in roadways jumped from Rs 1,85,900 crore in March 2015 to Rs 3,44,211 crore in March 2018. As of June 2018, the investment stood at Rs 36,641 crore.